Tragedy: The Sad Ballad of the Gibb Brothers

From the July 18 edition of theSydney Morning HeraldandThe Age, whereTragedywas selected as their Pick of the Week:'My brother was bass guitarist for Normie Rowe when Barry Gibb played a demo of the Gibbs' latest recording at rehearsals one afternoon in Sydney. It was Spicks and Specks, the single that, after a string of flops in Oz launched the Bee Gees. Jeff Apter's record of their rise, fall and rise really gets you in. Especially those heady days in Britain in 1967 when they turned out a string of hits. But there is deep sadness in the tale too, for when they sang Tragedy they couldn't have known that was in store with the untimely death of Maurice, younger brother Andy and, more recently, Robin. Apter brings the story up to the moment, Barry Gibb, after an extended time channel surfing on his couch, rousing himself to do the Mythology tour.’ —Steven Carroll

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Tragedywas published in the UK and North America byJawbone Pressin June 2016 and a new, smaller format edition of the book was published in Australia in March 2018. You can hear me speaking about the book with radio station 4KQ.

High Voltage is the first biography to focus exclusively on Angus. It tells of his remarkable rise from working-class Glasgow and Sydney to the biggest stages in the world. The youngest of eight kids, Angus always seemed destined for a life in music, and it was his passion and determination that saw AC/DC become hard rock’s greatest act. Over the years, Angus has endured the devastating death of iconic vocalist Bon Scott, the forced retirement of his brother in arms, Malcolm Young, and more recently the loss from the band of singer Brian Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd. Yet somehow the little guitar maestro has kept AC/DC not just on the rails, but at the top of the rock pile. Must be those big balls . . .

I launched the book at the Thirroul Writers Festival on August 25 and spoke with AC/DC photographer Philip Morris at Rockdale Library on September 5. You can read an extract of High Voltagehere and also read a review from the Daily Review and from Sydney's Daily Telegraph. I'm being interviewed here on Channel 9's Today Extra. I spoke with Nick Bennett at Talking Lifestyle about High Voltage, Bern Young at ABC Gold Coast and Andrew O'Keefe at Weekend Sunrise. Here's a piece I wrote about Angus for the Guardian. High Voltage also topped the independent publisher bestseller list on its week of release — it's a #1! Here are details for the aduio book edition of High Voltage.